Candid Camera

It's a night of folks just like you and me on CBS (at least until 10 o'clock, when Don Johnson takes over)."Candid Camera Across America" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- Peter Funt, son of "Candid Camera" originator Allen Funt, follows in his dad's footsteps by taking his hidden camera across America, traveling 30,000 miles and visiting 16 states to prove ordinary people can still be awfully funny when they don't realize they're on camera. CBS."Sabrina, The Teenage Witch" (9 p.m.-9: 30 p.m., WMAR, Channel 2)

If you are like most of us living in the Baltimore area, you are probably sick of hearing about what a disgrace the city's speed camera program turned out to be - about the high error rate, about the slow response of city government to the problem and perhaps even about the stonewalling and vague explanations of exactly how it went so terribly wrong. We're sick of it. Our readers are sick of it. And it's probably the case that most everyone in City Hall from Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake on down to the youngest clerk-typist is tired of thinking about this embarrassment, too. Yet the latest revelation - one that the Rawlings-Blake administration clearly didn't want anyone to know about - is that the whole thing was even worse than previously reported.

Smile, you're on Candid Camera."Candid Camera's 50th Anniversary" (8 p.m.-9 p.m., WJZ, Channel 13) -- A healthy mixture of new and old is served up as Peter Funt, Alan's son, toasts the golden celebration of his father's brainchild, catching people in the act of being themselves. Highlights include Buster Keaton eating soup (hilariously, believe me) and a 15-year-old Richard Lewis. Will they include the bit where a service station attendant popped the hood on a car, only to find no engine there?

When the legislature approved the statewide use of speed cameras last year, critics of the plan were loud and shrill. They viewed them as merely a way to milk the motoring public for revenue from fines and doubted the cameras would make the roads much safer. But while it's still relatively early yet, the results show that cameras are working pretty much as traffic safety experts had anticipated. Work zone cameras deployed last fall are not making money for the state, but they are slowing down traffic.

"CANDID CAMERA" was a hokey show in its concept: average folks caught on film reacting to absurd, contrived predicaments.Rocket science it wasn't, but human beings obviously love watching others doing funny things.Viewers laughed at "victims'" reactions, but the victims often laughed heartiest themselves.The death Sunday of Allen Funt, the 84-year-old creator of "Candid Camera," was a reminder of how far television's standards have changed -- and not for the better -- since his show's heyday in the 1960s.

By Joel McCord and Joel McCord,Anne Arundel Bureau of The Sun | August 10, 1991

They grunted. They groaned. They snarled. They snorted. One gent even whipped his cane back over his shoulder as if to whack the head off anyone who got near him.The group from the Allen Senior Citizens Center in South Baltimore was learning how to scare off muggers by looking threatening, by practicing that snarl that says, "Don't mess with me," in a mirror at the Martial Art of Karate school on Airport Park Road in Glen Burnie."

''Smile, you're on Candid Camera'' -- Howard County traffic warning.Americans are angry at Milosevic for starting wars and atrocities which Belgrade demonstrators are mad at him for stopping.Cheer up. Baltimore is only 22nd worst of 50 cities in the Roadway Congestion Index.The Os took the Key out of YanKey.Pub Date: 12/11/96

What are the conservatives doing with all the money and power that used to belong to all of us? They are telling us to be absolutely terrified, and to run around in circles like chickens with their heads cut off. But they will save us. They are making us take off our shoes at airports. Can anybody here think of a more hilarious practical joke than that one? Smile, America. You're on Candid Camera. - KURT VONNEGUT, from a speech he delivered in 2003; the author died Wednesday at age 84

Gilbert O. Herman, an actor and television executive whose credits include "The Steve Allen Show," "What's My Line" and "Candid Camera," died Sept. 6 of congestive heart failure at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis.Mr. Herman, who was 80, moved to Annapolis about 10 years ago to be closer to family members.He appeared in the Broadway production of Moss Hart's "Winged Victory" in the 1940s and had roles in motion pictures, including "Romeo and Juliet," "I Was a Male War Bride," "Sands of Iwo Jima" and "Bitter Victory."

By David Zurawik and David Zurawik,SUN TELEVISION CRITIC | January 12, 2002

Talk about a slip of a show. I haven't seen as thin a concept for a prime-time comedy show as the WB's JKX: The Jamie Kennedy Experiment since The Paula Poundstone Show debacle on ABC a few seasons back. Remember that one? ABC announced the debut of Poundstone's show, and then she announced a few days before it aired that she wasn't exactly sure how to do a television show. The product eventually put on ABC's air looked as though she didn't have a clue. Jamie Kennedy (Scream) has a clue and some acting talent, too, but that's about it. There is almost enough here for a five-minute sketch on Saturday Night Live, not a half-hour show.

If you worry at all about privacy in our 24/7 wired world, think about this: Now you can't even run over someone without ending up on an Internet video. Well, not if you're the least bit famous, anyway. Which brings us to the sad case of syndicated columnist Robert Novak. As you may have heard, Novak was driving in downtown Washington last week when he apparently hit a pedestrian with his Corvette convertible. To be honest, I never figured the 77-year-old Novak for a guy who tools around in a 'Vette.

There's a new sports jinx looming on the horizon, but Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones apparently couldn't care less. He agreed to allow his team to be the subject of this year's version of the HBO football reality series, Hard Knocks. Cameras follow an NFL team through training camp, complete with all the subplots that weave their way through the preseason - injuries, the occasional holdout, players competing for positions and getting cut. The Ravens were the first team to allow themselves to be filmed candidly for the series in 2001 after their Super Bowl victory.

Rev your engines for another debate on whether Howard County officials should have the authority to use cameras to catch speeders in residential areas. The tickets would cost $75, with the proceeds used for public safety programs. Among the dozen local bills submitted for the General Assembly session that starts in January, that measure is likely to spark heated discussion. It is sponsored by state Sen. James N. Robey, a Democrat who is a former county executive and a former police chief.

What are the conservatives doing with all the money and power that used to belong to all of us? They are telling us to be absolutely terrified, and to run around in circles like chickens with their heads cut off. But they will save us. They are making us take off our shoes at airports. Can anybody here think of a more hilarious practical joke than that one? Smile, America. You're on Candid Camera. - KURT VONNEGUT, from a speech he delivered in 2003; the author died Wednesday at age 84

If Baltimore police put out an all-points bulletin on the latest urban vandals, it might read something like this: Calling all cars, calling all cars, polenapper on the loose. Beware, perpetrator may be armed (with a buzz saw) and dangerous - the stolen light poles are 250 pounds of hot-wired aluminum. When more than 130 street light poles disappear, scrap metal thieves have hit new heights. This is not your average mailbox prank. Utility poles have to be cut or knocked down, and their 120-volt electrical insides dismantled.

BOSTON - As an average American confronted by roughly 500 ads a day, I have developed an immunity to the allure of commercials. Oh, from time to time, I become fond of a little quacking duck, but I can never remember what AFLAC stands for. I become amused by the woman getting altogether too much "organic experience" from Herbal Essences shampoo, but it doesn't lead me to the check-out counter. Nevertheless, I think I swallowed the biggest line of all: the ad for ads, the commercial for commercials.

Honoring Mrs. Parks The overwhelming vote in favor of awarding the Congressional Gold Medal to Rosa Parks is long overdue. For nearly 50 years, Mrs. Parks has been an activist in the fight for equal rights and justice for all Americans. In receiving the honor, the woman often called the "mother of the civil rights movement" will join an eclectic group of medal recipients. Among them: Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, spiritual leader of 250 million Orthodox Christians; evangelist Billy Graham; band leader Fred Waring; and artist Andrew Wyeth.

If Baltimore police put out an all-points bulletin on the latest urban vandals, it might read something like this: Calling all cars, calling all cars, polenapper on the loose. Beware, perpetrator may be armed (with a buzz saw) and dangerous - the stolen light poles are 250 pounds of hot-wired aluminum. When more than 130 street light poles disappear, scrap metal thieves have hit new heights. This is not your average mailbox prank. Utility poles have to be cut or knocked down, and their 120-volt electrical insides dismantled.

By David Zurawik and David Zurawik,SUN TELEVISION CRITIC | January 12, 2002

Talk about a slip of a show. I haven't seen as thin a concept for a prime-time comedy show as the WB's JKX: The Jamie Kennedy Experiment since The Paula Poundstone Show debacle on ABC a few seasons back. Remember that one? ABC announced the debut of Poundstone's show, and then she announced a few days before it aired that she wasn't exactly sure how to do a television show. The product eventually put on ABC's air looked as though she didn't have a clue. Jamie Kennedy (Scream) has a clue and some acting talent, too, but that's about it. There is almost enough here for a five-minute sketch on Saturday Night Live, not a half-hour show.

Gilbert O. Herman, an actor and television executive whose credits include "The Steve Allen Show," "What's My Line" and "Candid Camera," died Sept. 6 of congestive heart failure at Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis.Mr. Herman, who was 80, moved to Annapolis about 10 years ago to be closer to family members.He appeared in the Broadway production of Moss Hart's "Winged Victory" in the 1940s and had roles in motion pictures, including "Romeo and Juliet," "I Was a Male War Bride," "Sands of Iwo Jima" and "Bitter Victory."